Be here, be now

Simply said, difficult to execute. And yet, these words are the truth to walk the way to happiness.

When I was in Tulum last year and participated in a yoga retreat, one of the daily morning routines at 7.30am was meditation. At that point in my life, I’ve of course heard about meditation, but apart from ‘sitting still’ in my yoga classes, I never meditated. I write ‘sitting still’ in quotation marks on purpose, because this was what mediation meant to me up until that day.

The first meditation during the yoga retreat was not easy at all for me. My thoughts were wandering, to the past, to the future, to the breath of other people in the room, basically everything, but me. I felt restless, not able to sit still, and I couldn’t focus. My mind was controlling this meditation fully and taking me everywhere, but the here and now.

Only when I started focusing on my breath and breathed in and out louder, I experienced a bit of silence arising from within.

If you are struggling with being silent, too, then I can recommend you to start meditating on a daily basis. Start with 3-5 minutes only, then increase the length to 10 minutes, then 15 minutes and then meditate as long as you want to. Find a comfortable seat, crossing your legs or sitting on your heels. The beginners amongst you may want to try lying down to start with. I find it easier to be silent when lying down, as it’s more comfy, but obviously with practice you can sit up.

Once you meditate, just observe what comes up for you, do not comment or assess, just notice. Let your thoughts come and go like clouds, thank them for being there to protect you, but then kindly tell them good-bye. At least, for that moment. For the time-being. This way, you’ll be able to experience presence, being in the here and now. Gradually. Do not worry, all good things take time, so take your time to become silent, take your time to be fully present.

To support this process, I also like journalling after the meditation – writing all my feelings & thoughts down into my pink notebook. I feel like bringing everything down to paper is such a relief and it helps me to let go of these thoughts even quicker next time I meditate. Journalling helps me a lot to relive my feelings and thoughts and to move them from the unconscious to the conscious. Always remember that we can only ever change feelings, thoughts, situations, etc. that we’ve become conscious of. Every feeling in the unconscious remains hidden and it becomes more and more difficult to reveal the longer we leave our feelings in the unconscious.

I promise the moment you become conscious of yourself, your feelings and behaviours, it might be just a bit of a shock and maybe it hurts a tiny bit, but then you’ll feel relieved, free and ready to be in the here and now, the way to happiness.

Yours, Nina

 

 

 

Advertisement

My breakthrough

My breakthrough is what I call the beginning of the journey to myself.

I look at pictures taken in Cozumel, Mexico, and I see pure happiness, in my eyes, in my smile, in the glow in my face.

This happened when I finally allowed me to go on an inner journey to myself. Allowing me to explore who I am, reflecting whether I’m happy with who I am, finding out what I stand for, what my values are. It’s difficult to describe the feeling of this permission, but I felt relieved. I felt light. It felt like the wings that were glued to my body (probably by myself?) for many years were finally starting to open, because I permitted me to open them. Slowly, but surely.

I realised that I’ve always had big wings, but that I had neglected or forgotten them for a very long time. So, when I could feel my wings again, I was able to open them, to use them and to finally start creating a life that should feel as free as a bird.

Which brings me back to my answer (always!) upon the question:

If you were an animal, what would you like to be?

My breakthrough was not one single moment, it was a process. However, I recognised that specific moment of happiness in Cozumel as my breakthrough moment. And I will never ever forget it.

If you are at a turning point in your life, please trust yourself and life. Trust that things will happen for you at the right time and remember that life is always working for you, not against you.

Yours, Nina